Tahoe crayfish harvesting under way but creating market for the food is challenging

10:23 AM,
Aug. 8, 2012

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With the early morning sun cresting the forested ridge to the east, Fred Jackson and company pulled a bounty from the placid waters of Lake Tahoe.

Harvesting of the lake's crayfish - the first commercial fishing to occur at the lake in decades - is now under way in earnest as Jackson, family and friends draw in strings of traps containing hundreds of skittering, pinching crawdads.

Fishing is occurring because Jackson, a 23-year employee for the Nevada Department of Wildlife, spent the past year pursuing a change in Nevada law and the necessary permits for a venture designed to earn him a living ...